The roles of global cooling and early Tibetan Plateau uplift on the enhanced aridity in Eocene Asian inland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangyu Li ◽  
Zhongshi Zhang ◽  
Ran Zhang ◽  
Qing Yan
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Perspective View ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Paleoclimate Modeling ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Global Cooling ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift

<p>Geological evidence shows that the Asian inland environment experienced enhanced aridity from the Early to the Late Eocene. The underlying mechanism for this enhanced Eocene aridity in the Asian inland is still not well illustrated and varies between global cooling and early Tibetan Plateau uplift. In this report, we evaluate the climate impact of three factors, global cooling, topographic uplift and land–sea reorganization, on the enhanced Eocene aridity in Asian inland, in the perspective view from paleoclimate modeling. Paleoclimate modeling supports the Eocene aridification in Asian inland explored by paleoclimate reconstruction. Both the early uplift of Tibetan Plateau and global cooling induced by atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> reduction contributed to the enhanced aridity in Asian inland in the late Eocene. The Eocene land sea redistribution caused the precipitation increase in Asian inland and hence didn’t contribute to the enhanced aridity there. The uplift of the central Tibetan Plateau during the early stage of the India–Asia collision is emphasized more to be responsible for the long-term Asian inland aridification during the Eocene, playing at least an equally important role as the global cooling induced by decrease in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>. The variation of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> is likely more important in modulating the regional aridity, leading to the short-term fluctuations in this Eocene Asian inland aridification.</p>

scholarly journals Late Cenozoic continuous aridification in the western Qaidam Basin: evidence from sporopollen records

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1485-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. F. Miao ◽  
X. M. Fang ◽  
F. L. Wu ◽  
M. T. Cai ◽  
C. H. Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Qaidam Basin ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Western Qaidam Basin ◽  
Global Cooling ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift

Abstract. Cenozoic climate changes in inner Asia provide a basis for understanding linkages between global cooling, the Tibetan Plateau uplift, and possibly the development of the East Asian monsoon. Based on the compiled palynological results from the western Qaidam Basin, this study reconstructed an 18 Ma record of changing vegetation and paleoclimates since the middle Miocene. Thermophilic taxa percentages were highest between 18 and 14 Ma and decreased after 14 Ma, corresponding closely with the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) between 18 and 14 Ma and the following global climatic cooling. After 3.6 Ma, the thermophilic taxa percentages further decreased, showing the inevitable relations with the ice-sheets enlargement in the North Hemisphere. During the same period of time, the increase in xerophytic taxa percentages and decrease in conifers percentages imply aridification in both the basin and surrounding mountains since 18 Ma. These results indicate that global cooling mainly controlled the climate change from a relative warm-wet stage to a cold-dry stage during the late Cenozoic at the western Qaidam Basin, and that the Tibetan Plateau uplift also contributed in contrast to the East Asian summer monsoon.

scholarly journals Where were the monsoon regions and arid zones in Asia prior to the Tibetan Plateau uplift?

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Qingchun Guo ◽  
Zhengtang Guo ◽  
Zhi-Yong Yin ◽  
Buwen Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Arid Zones ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift ◽  
Asian Monsoons ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoons and inland arid climates is an important but also controversial question in studies of paleoenvironmental change during the Cenozoic. In order to achieve a good understanding of the background for the formation of the Asian monsoons and arid environments, it is necessary to know the characteristics of the distribution of monsoon regions and arid zones in Asia before the plateau uplift. In this study, we discuss in detail the patterns of distribution of the Asian monsoon and arid regions before the plateau uplift on the basis of modeling results without topography from a global coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model, compare our results with previous simulation studies and available biogeological data, and review the uncertainties in the current knowledge. Based on what we know at the moment, tropical monsoon climates existed south of 20°N in South and Southeast Asia before the plateau uplift, while the East Asian monsoon was entirely absent in the extratropics. These tropical monsoons mainly resulted from the seasonal shifts of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. There may have been a quasi-monsoon region in central-southern Siberia. Most of the arid regions in the Asian continent were limited to the latitudes of 20–40°N, corresponding to the range of the subtropical high pressure year-around. In the meantime, the present-day arid regions located in the relatively high latitudes in Central Asia were most likely absent before the plateau uplift. The main results from the above modeling analyses are qualitatively consistent with the available biogeological data. These results highlight the importance of the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in the Cenozoic evolution of the Asian climate pattern of dry–wet conditions. Future studies should be focused on effects of the changes in land–sea distribution and atmospheric CO2 concentrations before and after the plateau uplift, and also on cross-comparisons between numerical simulations and geological evidence, so that a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the Cenozoic paleoenvironments in Asia can be achieved.

scholarly journals Three main stages in the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic period and its possible effects on Asian aridification: A review

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixiang Wang ◽  
Yongjin Shen ◽  
Zhibin Pang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
East Asian Winter Monsoon ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Winter Monsoon ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Asian Winter Monsoon ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Global Cooling ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift ◽  
Central Tibet

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau uplift and its linkages with the evolution of the Asian climate during the Cenozoic are a research focus for numerous geologists. Here, a comprehensive review of tectonic activities across the Tibet shows that the development of the Tibetan Plateau has undergone mainly three stages of the uplift: the near-modern elevation of the central Tibet and significant uplift of the northern margins (~ 55–35 Ma), the further uplift of the plateau margins (30–20 Ma), and a rapid uplift of the plateau margins again (15–8 Ma). The first uplift of the plateau during ~ 55–35 Ma forced the long-term westward retreat of the Paratethys Sea. The high elevation of the central Tibet and/or the Himalayan would enhance rock weathering and erosion contributing to lowering of atmospheric CO2 content, resulting in global cooling. The global cooling, sea retreat coupled with the topographic barrier effect of the Tibetan Plateau could have caused the initial aridification in central Asia during the Eocene time. The second uplift of the northern Tibet could have resulted in the onset of the East Asian winter monsoon as well as intensive desertification of inland Asia, whereas the central-eastern in China became wet. The further strengthening of the East Asian winter monsoon and the inland Asian aridification during 15–8 Ma was probably associated with the Tibetan Plateau uplift and global cooling. Therefore, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau plays a very important role in the Asian aridification.

scholarly journals A late Eocene palynological record of climate change and Tibetan Plateau uplift (Xining Basin, China)

2012 ◽  
Vol 344-345 ◽  
pp. 16-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Hoorn ◽  
Julia Straathof ◽  
Hemmo A. Abels ◽  
Yadong Xu ◽  
Torsten Utescher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift ◽  
Xining Basin

scholarly journals The Tibetan Plateau Uplift is Crucial for Eastward Propagation of Madden-Julian Oscillation

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Min Yang ◽  
June-Yi Lee ◽  
Bin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Information Science ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Maritime Continent ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Upward Transport ◽  
Static Energy

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Himalayas have been treated as an essential external factor in shaping Asian monsoon and mid-latitude atmospheric circulation. In this study we perform numerical experiments with different uplift altitudes using the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System Model to examine potential impacts of uplift of the TP and Himalayas on eastward propagation of the MJO and the associated mechanisms. Analysis of experimental results with dynamics-based MJO diagnostics indicates two potential mechanisms. First, the uplift considerably enhances low-level mean westerlies in the Indian Ocean and convection in the Maritime Continent, which in turn strengthens boundary layer moisture convergence (BLMC) to the east of the MJO convective center. The increased BLMC reinforces upward transport of moisture and heat from BL to free atmosphere and increases lower tropospheric diabatic heating by shallow and congestus clouds ahead of the MJO center, enhancing the Kelvin-Rossby wave feedback. Second, the uplift increases upper tropospheric mean easterlies and stratiform heating at the west of the MJO center, which contributes to eastward propagation of MJO by generating positive moist static energy at the east of MJO center. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the origin of the MJO and improvement in simulation of MJO propagation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document